12 years after the kyuubi attack
(Konohagakure)
Uzumaki Naruto, container of the strongest biju, Kyuubi, jumped into the clearing with a large scroll tied to his back. Naruto walked towards the cabin that Mizuki-sensei had told him about and set the scroll on the ground beside it. He took this moment to catch his breath and reflect on the events of the day so far.
After Naruto failed the graduation exam, Mizuki approached a dejected Naruto sitting on a swing in front of the academy, too depressed to even notice him approach. He expertly convinced Naruto that there was another, secret way of becoming a genin. All he had to do was steal a certain scroll and learn one technique from within it.
Naruto immediately agreed to the special test, and later that night he broke into the Hokage Tower, utilizing all of the stealth skills he had gained from the countless pranks he pulled on the village. He ran into a little snag in the form of the Sandaime Hokage himself. But with a quick Sexy Jutsu Sarutobi was unconscious from a fierce nosebleed.
So now we find Uzumaki Naruto in the middle of a clearing, breaking the seal of the Forbidden Scroll, unaware of just how much his life would change from this moment forward.
'Alright let's see what we have here,' thought Naruto to himself. 'Okay first on the list Shadow Clone Jutsu,' Naruto audibly groaned at this. "Clone, that's my worst jutsu, ah man," he said with his head in his hands. "Oh well, if I master this Iruka-sensei will have to pass me, dattebayo!" 'But first, let's see what else is in here.' Naruto proceeded to unroll the scroll. 'Hmm… Shuriken Shadow Clone and Kunai Shadow Clone Jutsu, looks like their variations of Shadow Clone, I should write these down for later.' Naruto then reached into his backpack and pulled out a black scroll and marker and copied the instructions for the jutsus.
'Okay, I think that should do it' thought naruto and after finishing his impromptu homework he placed the scroll back in his backpack, satisfied with the jutsus copied. Naruto rolled the scroll back up so that only the directions for Shadow Clone Jutsu were showing. His expression turned to that of extreme determination. 'Okay let's get started.' thought naruto to himself.
Umino Iruka was racing through the forest, desperately trying to find his wayward student before any other hunting parties got to him. He had been beating himself up all day for failing Naruto, and had become worried when he couldn't find his favorite student after the academy let out. He still couldn't understand why Naruto would resolve to steal the Forbidden Scroll, or how he knew about it to begin with. Iruka racked his brain, trying to think of all the places Naruto could have gone. He then remembered a small clearing where he would sometimes find his honorary little brother training. With all of the speed he could muster, Iruka took off towards the clearing, unaware he was being followed by a silver haired chunin.
Naruto was doubled over, panting heavily. "Damn… that took a lot… out of me… ha, but think I've finally got it." He leaned back and sat on the forest floor, regaining his breath. As his breathing became lighter, he caught the sound of someone approaching and looked up to see Iruka-sensei jump into the clearing.
"I've found you," yelled a thoroughly pissed Iruka, staring hard at Naruto.
"Hehe, you found me sensei," said a sheepish Naruto while rubbing the back of his head, "but I only had enough time to learn one jutsu from the scroll. But that still means I pass right Iruka-sensei?" asked naruto looking at iruka and his voice was filled with hope.
Iruka was now confused. "What are you talking about Naruto?" Iruka now took in his student's appearance. Naruto was banged up, his clothes worn and ripped, and he was still panting slightly. 'Wow, he's really been training hard.' "Naruto, who told you that?" asked iruka with suspicion.
"Huh, Mizuki-sensei of course," said Naruto, confused as to why Iruka-sensei didn't seem to know about the test.
Iruka's eyes widened as his ears picked up the sound of objects flying through the air. Reacting immediately, Iruka shoved Naruto out of the way as he was hit with several shuriken and kunai, pinning him to the side of the cabin. Naruto whirled around to see where the weapons had come from. He saw Mizuki standing on a branch nearby.
"Why thank you Iruka for leading me right to him," said Mizuki with a sneer. He turned his attention to Naruto. "Now Naruto, give me the scroll."
"M-Mizuki-sensei? What's going on?" asked a thoroughly confused and worried Naruto.
"No Naruto, don't do it. Mizuki only used you to steal the scroll, he lied to you. You must protect that scroll with your life," Iruka shouted.
"Ha… this entire village has been lying to him his entire life, and you accuse me of lying. Tell me Naruto, do you know why this village hates you?" asked Mizuki with a sadistic grin.
"No Mizuki, you can't. It's forbidden," Iruka shouted, panic evident in his voice.
"Why? why everyone hates me?" asked naruto
"Of course you don't. There was a law that forbade anyone from telling you the truth." said mizuki with a evil smirk
"W-what law, what wasn't I told," asked Naruto, with much trepidation in his voice.
"The secret that the Yondaime never killed the Kyuubi, that he actually sealed it away into the body of a baby. That you, Naruto, are the Kyuubi. The same demon that killed Iruka's parents."
Naruto body froze as he stared at his chunin sensei. Inside he was desperately trying to come up with a denial, some proof that proved otherwise. But deep down he knew it to be true. The villager's cold stares, the hatred, the beatings, the coinciding dates of his birth and the Kyuubi's defeat. The insults like 'demon child' or 'Kyuubi-brat'. It all finally made sense.
'That's why they hated me, that's why I never had anyone growing up, why I'll never have anyone.' A tear started to make its way down his cheek. 'I never even had a chance to be happy, did I? I was cursed the day I was born.' were the several thoughts running through his head and tears were free flowing down his cheeks.
Naruto was still dazed when he vaguely heard Mizuki shout something about finally slaying the demon. He looked up to see his former sensei unleash a giant shuriken right towards him, but he still didn't move. It wasn't out of fear, at least not mostly. But for the first time, Uzumaki Naruto lacked the will to go on. It seems that your life really does flash before your eyes when you're about to die, which only furthered Naruto's depression. Closing his eyes, Naruto awaited the bite of the steel.
But the bite never came; instead Naruto felt something warm and wet hit his face. Opening his eyes, he was shocked once more. In front of him, Iruka was hunched over and blood dripping from his mouth, having taken the giant shuriken directly to his back. He gave Naruto a sad smile. "I 'cough' never hated you Naruto. I understand how painful it is, to grow up without anyone that cares about you, being all alone." Tears began to fall down his face. "When my parents died, I had no one to acknowledge me. I wanted attention, any attention at all, so I became the class clown just so people would notice me. You see Naruto, we're a lot alike." Iruka lowered his gaze as his tears fell to the ground. "I'm sorry Naruto, if I had been a better teacher and friend you wouldn't have had to feel that pain." said iruka as he himself was crying
Naruto was stunned. There were so many thoughts running through his head. He as lied to his entire life, the true reason he was hated was just revealed to him. Was he a demon, was he even human? It was just too much to take all at once. So he did the only thing he could think of. He ran.
Iruka could only watch as Naruto disappeared into the forest. "Naruto…"
"You see Iruka, did you see the look in his eyes? He's going to use the scroll to get revenge on the village for what it has done to him. He's just like me." snarled mizuki in anger at iruka
"You're wrong," Iruka said coldly, wrenching the shuriken out of his back and launching it back at Mizuki.
Mizuki simply dodged the weapon. "Now, now Iruka don't be impatient, I'll come back to deal with you once I've finished off the Kyuubi-brat." And with that he sped off in search of Naruto.
"Damn you," Iruka cursed, moving as fast as his body would allow to intercept the traitor.
It was some time later that the two former friends were once again face-to-face in the forest. Both had made use of a transformation jutsu in an attempt to fool the other. Iruka had gained a slight advantage and managed to hit Mizuki with a shoulder to his chest. Unfortunately, due to his injuries he was unable to maintain this advantage for long. This is why we find him slouched, injured and exhausted against a tree staring down a still relatively fresh Mizuki.
"Tell me Iruka, why do you care for that thing? He's just going to use the scroll to gain power and destroy the village. That's what demons do." spat mizuki in disgust
Unknown to both parties, Naruto was currently hiding behind a nearby tree, so was privy to their conversation.
"You're right Mizuki, that is what a demon would do." said iruka.
Naruto could feel his heart break. 'So Iruka-sensei is just like the rest of the village.' He stood to leave once more, but stopped in his tracks when Iruka continued.
"But Naruto is no demon. He is my student. He may not be the hardest worker, and he may be a bit of a screw up. But he is a proud Konoha shinobi. He is Uzumaki Naruto." finished Iruka
Naruto now had tears streaming down his face after hearing his teachers words.
Mizuki just sneered at the injured teacher. "Whatever Iruka. I was going to leave you alive for later, but you've annoyed me enough to move up your execution." He took the remaining shuriken from the strap on his back and began to spin it rapidly. "So just die," he shouted as he rushed towards Iruka, murder in his eyes.
Iruka could only sit and watch as his impending doom ran towards him. He knew he was no match for Mizuki in his current condition. His body refused to move. A sad smile spread across his face as he thought, 'At least Naruto got away.' was his last thought as he closed his eyes for the awaited death.
Mizuki was only a few meters away from his victim when something neither man expected happened. An orange blur raced intercepted Mizuki, crashing a knee to the chunin's face. Mizuki was thrown back and hit the ground hard, but he quickly righted himself to see his attacker. There, standing with his face downcast was Uzumaki Naruto, the Forbidden Scroll laid on the ground beside him. The chunin attention was drawn from the scroll by Naruto's voice. "If you touch Iruka-sensei," he started, bringing his eyes up to meet Mizuki's gaze, "I'll kill you."
Mizuki was slightly unnerved by the look in the dead-last's eyes. They held no playfulness or mischief, nor any sadness or depression. They instead held a determination and anger that Mizuki had never seen within the blue eyes before. He quickly shook that feeling off as he retorted. "Ha ha, I'm a chunin you runt, I can kill you with a single blow." said mizuki but his voice was filled with arrogance and cockiness.
Much to Mizuki's surprise and consternation, Naruto didn't even flinch. He merely brought his hands together in a single seal. "Go for it. Anything you throw at me, I'll return a thousand fold." Gathering a massive amount of chakra that shocked and amazed the present ninja Naruto shouted a single jutsu. "Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu" There was a massive release of smoke as the jutsu took affect. When it cleared, the two chunin in the clearing were further stunned, though one had a look of pride while the other held one of fear.
The clearing was now filled with hundreds of Naruto clones, filling the trees and forest floor with a sickening orange. Mizuki couldn't move out of sheer shock. "What's wrong Mizuki-teme, I thought you would kill me with one shot," said the clones. "Fine if you're not coming, then I'll make the first move." said naruto and his clones rushed at mizuki and started beating shit out of him.
The forest was soon filled with the pitiful sounds of the massive beating that took place. After a few minutes the sounds of fists hitting flesh, bones cracking and womanly screams ended. Mizuki was left unconscious and broken in the middle of the clearing. A slightly winded Naruto walked away from the traitor to Iruka. "I guess I kind of overdid it, eh Iruka-sensei," said a sheepish Naruto, rubbing the back of his head.
"Naruto close your eyes for a second," said Iruka. Naruto, although confused by the strange request, obliged. He felt his sensei remove the goggles on his forehead and replace them with something else. "Okay Naruto you can open your eyes now." Opening his eyes Naruto saw his sensei smiling at him, but something was missing. His forehead was bear. Raising his hand to his own forehead Naruto felt the cool metal with an indentation in the center.
With widened eyes Naruto looked back up to his sensei, as if asking for confirmation. "Congratulations Naruto, you pass." said iruka
Iruka had to bite back a wince as Naruto tackled him around his midsection, putting him into a painfully tight hug. "Thank you, thank you, thank you," Naruto shouted into his chest.
"You earned it Naruto," said Iruka, who finally managed to pry off his now former student. "Now I think that we should be returning that scroll to the hokage, and we might want to get Mizuki to a hospital."
Naruto put on a fake pout. "Aaw, I understand about the scroll, but do we have to drag that teme to a hospital," he said shooting a nasty look at Mizuki.
Iruka just laughed as he and his honorary little brother slowly made their way back to the village.
At hokage tower
Third hokage, Sarutobhi Hiruzen watched entire ordeal using his crystal ball, he felt pride in some Naruto's actions today but for some he will have a chat with him but later. He went through swveral hand seals and slammed his hand on ground when a orange toad appeared in a poof of smoke.
"Why did you summoned me hokage-sama?" asked a black coloured toad
"Gamakero, I have a message for jiraiya tell him that he become a genin and it's time that jiraiya can fulfill his role of a god father as council will now have no say in it" said Sarutobhi Hiruzen
"Hai, I'll let him know of it" said now identified gamakero and disappeared in a poof of smoke.
Sarutobhi put a smile on his face once again and he called for one of the chunin outside his office,
"Kotetsu." Immediately a chunin appeared in his office.
"Hokage-sama?" the young man asked.
"Alert the others that the search for Uzumaki Naruto is called off. He and the Forbidden Scroll are secure and on their way here. And send for a medic team and have them wait outside the tower." ordered the aged hokage.
"Hai Hokage-sama," was all Kotetsu said as he left to fulfill his orders.